Page 7 of Maddie

“I’ll help you through it,” Ferris said. “Compared to Maddie, I haven’t been a vampire for long.”

“I love the lore, the style, but I never wanted to bethis.” A few tears streamed down Alice’s cheeks.

Maddie hadn’t either, but she’d grown used to it.

“We need to pick up our pace,” Maddie whispered. She then turned to Noah, his eyes still glazed. “Follow us and keep up.”

No one said another word as they hurried to the park portal near Noah’s home. A few stars shone brightly in the night sky, and every now and again the group passed a civilian or a car roared down the street. There were a number of portals throughout London, but the one Rav frequented was in a different city park near the nightclubs. That particular portal led straight to the Ruby Heart Palace. Somehow, Ferris had snuck Alice out through it.

Adjusting her arm sleeves, she looked again at Alice who continued to quiver. Maddie would attempt to lighten the mood while they kept their pace. “By the way, I’m Maddie.”

“I’m Alice.” She turned to her brother, tears glinting in her eyes, her shoulders sagging. “I only wanted to tell Noah goodbye.”

“That’s what we all think, but it’s never that easy.” Maddie peered at Noah in his calmer state, wondering what he was like when not encountering vampires. No human would be able to tell he was under an influence, but any vampire could. If Noah was as close to Alice as Maddie was to Mouse, then Alice would never have just been able to say goodbye. She would’ve continued to come back, the same way Maddie had returned to see Mouse.

“Which hideout should we take them to?” Ferris asked.

Ever had given Maddie half her set of keys so they would both have protection in case they needed to escape Imogen and Rav. The keys unlocked secret places across Wonderland. Maddie had later split them with Ferris so he could use them once he’d gotten Mouse, which he hadn’t. But he’d been able to use one to escape through the palace’s hidden back door.

“Rock, paper, scissors to decide?” she finally said.

Ferris rolled his eyes. “Let’s just go to the one at the edge of Scarlet.”

Ah, Maddie had missed Ferris’s eye rolls. “Perfect, my dear.” She’d first found him at a club where he’d played drums with his band, or in truth, Mouse had discovered him. He’d been passed out in the hall outside the club’s back room, drunk and high. Maddie had said to leave him be, but Mouse chose to save him from overdosing. He’d thought Mouse was an angel when she first drank from him, taking the poison from his blood. After that, he’d wanted that high instead, and it worked out for Maddie and Mouse when they needed their appetites satiated.

The group approached a nearly-empty street and headed across it into the secluded park. Not many humans ventured there. Graffiti covered the playground, and a long crack ran up the yellow plastic slide. A lone swing creaked from the wind, the rest missing from their rusted chains, and a large rat scampered into a tunnel across from a leaning merry-go-round. The picnic tables, long disappeared, had never been replaced.

“I’ll let things settle for about a week, then find a way to get Mouse out,” Ferris whispered.

The best plan would be for Rav and Imogen to die by the sun’s hand. Maddie was about to say just that when the strong scent of sulfur hit her nose.Theportal. Someone was using it.

Maddie’s heart pounded, her gaze settling on the spot beneath a cluster of bushes beside a row of hazel trees. Vampires from all sides of Wonderland frequented any of the portals they wished, besides Rav’s, but she hoped no one was on the other side of this one who could identify Alice or Ferris. Imogen wouldn’t give up her search until they found them, alive or dead.

“Hide,” Maddie whisper-shouted, shoving Ferris and Alice toward a covered footpath, leading to the playground tunnel that could easily fit two.

She was about to haul Noah with her to take shelter behind—she pivoted her head, searching their surroundings—apparently nowhere. The tree trunks close to them were too narrow, and climbing them wouldn’t do with their thin and wiry limbs.

Next option. Act natural. Maddie would look like anyone else coming or going from the portal with an influenced mortal, and no one would recognize Noah.

“You’ll thank me later for this.” Maddie looped her arm around Noah’s waist. She pulled him close to her, like a lover, and walked toward the portal as though they were waiting their turn to enter. “Act like we’retogether.”

Out from the bushes, a masculine, yet elegant, hand appeared, then a body.Bloody hell. Not what she wanted. Notwhoshe wanted.

Scarlet’s prince. Chess.

That bastard. Right before Ever went into hiding, she’d told Maddie that Chess had tried to murder her. It had been on his mother’s—Imogen’s—orders. The White Queen had stabbed him in the chest before fleeing her masquerade ball once she discovered her guards had also betrayed her. But like a cat with nine lives, he lived. Ever should’ve aimed straight for his heart then twisted the blade like he was a wind-up toy.

It took everything in Maddie not to clench her teeth, but her fingers still dug into Noah’s waist, his arm draped over her shoulder. She hadn’t asked him to do that, but she didn’t shove it off.

Chess wore a tight, dark vest, his full chest on display, his lean muscles flexing as he lazily pushed himself up to stand. He scented the air and his yellow gaze latched straight on them. Layers of brown hair fell to his chin and neck and he tucked them behind his ear.

Damn it.

“What are you doing out here?” Maddie cooed, pretending as if it were any normal night. “Don’t you have your own hole to crawl out from?”

“Maddie, Maddie, Maddie, you still haven’t learned how to speak to royalty?” Chess purred, licking his lower lip, his gaze flicking to Noah as he stepped closer to them. “Seems you found yourself quite a treat.”

“He’s mine. Go find your own.”

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